THE DANGERS OF NOT CLAIMING YOUR GOOGLE BUSINESS PROFILE!

THE DANGERS OF NOT CLAIMING YOUR GOOGLE MY BUSINESS PROFILE

A Google my Business Profile (GMB) is a customer’s gateway to your business on Google Search and Maps. If you spot a listing with your name on it that isn’t yours, you need to get it claimed. Ignoring it will have risks in the long run and could hamper your online presence.

Here are the top 8 dangers of not claiming your GMB listing.

THE TOP 8 DANGERS OF NOT CLAIMING YOUR GOOGLE BUSINESS PROFILE

1. NO CONTROL OVER CHANGES

What if a customer, despite good intentions, mistakenly changes your operating hours, and these changes get approved?

For Chester, one of our managers, this is one of the biggest risks your business can face. When someone makes a change to the information on an unclaimed Google Business Profile, you can’t do much. You won’t have access to the editing and approval tools needed to ensure that your business information is complete and accurate. This can lead to misleading information and a lack of confidence among your customers.

2. CAN'T REPLY TO REVIEWS

Customers who write reviews on a Google Business Profile don’t always expect a reply, but responding helps increase brand trust and confidence. By not engaging with your customers, you’re missing a huge opportunity to turn them into loyal fans or to address the concerns of frustrated buyers.

3. ANYONE CAN CLAIM OR STEAL YOUR GMB LISTING

1. Competitors – A competitor who claims your GBP could take advantage of your hard work to gain positive reviews and point any links to their site. They could change the contact information to point to their site and business, stealing customers from your business.
2. Unscrupulous Marketers – A dishonest marketer could claim your page, assign themselves as the primary owner, and hold your page hostage. Unwary business owners might fall prey to this scheme.
3. Random Scammers – There have always been scammers who try and steal access to things that they have no use for, other than to be disruptive. This is always a possibility, so don’t be an easy target for a random scam artist, this one reason alone is why you should act today and get your listing claimed!

DON'T LET HACKERS CLAIM YOUR GMB LISTING - CLICK HERE!

4. CUSTOMERS CAN POST ANYTHING THEY WANT

… And you really can’t do much about it if you haven’t claimed your listing.

Customers might post irrelevant, misleading or downright offensive images and videos that might be harder to take down if you don’t own your listing. Yes, anyone can flag them as inappropriate but you wouldn’t catch wind of it.

5. THE LISTING MAY DISAPPEAR

Two of our local SEO experts, KC and Dave, both agree that if the listing isn’t claimed and optimised, there’s a high chance that it might be taken off Google Maps. As people begin to realise that the information on that listing is not updated or always has been incorrect, then its rankings go down until the listing just disappears.

If this listing does disappear, customers will no longer be able to locate you via Google Maps, and your phone number, address and website will no longer be available to them.

6. LOSE OUT ON POTENTIAL TRAFFIC

A claimed, verified and optimised Google Business Profile becomes a legitimate backlink to your website, thereby giving you the necessary traffic and relevance when people search for your products or services online. Without your listing, you’re losing out on the opportunity to get that extra traffic – both online and offline.

7. YOU CAN'T PROMOTE YOUR BUSINESS

Google Business Profile has several features that help you stand out in search results. Google Posts, for one, enables you to write updates on offers, events and changes to your operations with a link to your website. Posts have the potential to offer high clickthrough rates especially when your customer is ready to purchase.

As well, local advertising on Google is on the rise and several local businesses are now paying to improve their competitive edge on Google Maps. Local ads appear on top of organic searches and have a square icon on the map (as opposed to the standard location pin) to set them apart from organic pins.

Without a claimed GBP, you might not have this option.

8. NO ACCESS TO INSIGHTS

Google Business Profile has metrics that allow businesses to gauge how well their local campaigns and SEO are doing and see what they can improve in their strategy.

For instance, within the GBP manager, listing owners can see who’s viewed their profile by searching for specific keywords related to their business. They can also see who’s clicked on their action links (Visit the website, Get directions, Save listing, Call store) and even see where customers view their business more – on Search or Maps.

If you do not claim your listing, you do not have access to insights and lose the chance of converting these views and clicks to bonafide customers.

With all these risks and more, it becomes imperative that you should claim and verify your GBP listing ASAP. But how?

YOU PUT YOUR GOOGLE MY BUSINESS SUCCESS IN THE HANDS OF THE EXPERTS!

When you don’t claim your Google Business Profile, you lose so many opportunities to convert views into customers who are already looking for businesses like yours. Beware of the risks we have outlined above of having an unclaimed listing and do your best to get it claimed as early as possible.

Here at Goliath Media, we take the guesswork out of claiming or setting up your GBP listing, you can sign up for our service below and put your Google Business Profile success in the hands of the experts.

Our Google Business Profile services offer complete setup, verification & optimization of your business listings. Get your profile set up today to start reapin’ the rewards!